There’s A Small Hotel
In this charming love song, two lovers dream of a place where they can escape the troubles of their daily lives. Originally written for Rodgers & Hart’s 1935 musical Jumbo, the song officially debuted in 1936, when Ray Bolger and Doris Carson sang it in On Your Toes.
The song became a gem in the Great American Songbook, recorded by dozens of recording artists, including Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis, Jr., Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, Benny Goodman, Peggy Lee and The Supremes.
Frankie:
I’d like to get away, Junior,
Somewhere alone with you.
It could be oh so gay, Junior!
You need a laugh or two.
A certain place I know, Junior,
Where funny people can have fun.
That’s where we two will go, darling,
Before you can count up, “One
Two, three.” For...
There’s a small hotel
With a wishing well;
I wish that we were there together.
There’s no bridal suite;
One room bright and neat,
Complete for us to share together.
Looking through
The window, you
Can see a distant steeple.
Junior:
Not a sign of people;
Frankie:
Who wants
Junior:
People?
Frankie:
When the steeple bell
Says, “Good night, sleep well,”
We’ll thank that small hotel
Together.
Junior & Frankie:
There’s a small hotel
With a wishing well;
I wish that we were there together.
There’s no bridal suite;
One room bright and neat,
Complete for us to share together.
Looking through
The window, you
Can see a distant steeple.
Not a sign of people;
Who wants people?
When the steeple bell
Says, “Good night, sleep well,”
We’ll thank that small hotel
Together.
Frankie:
Pretty window curtains made of chintz
In a make-believe land;
On the wall are several cheerful prints
Of Washington and Cleveland.
Run down into the parlor and feast your eye
On the moose head on the wall.
Junior:
Perhaps you’d like to play the organ?
They tune it ev’ry other fall.
The garden will be like Adam and Eve-land.
Junior & Frankie:
No, they never did go in for carriage trade.
They get what is known as marriage trade.
Oh...
When the steeple bell
Says, “Good night, sleep well,
You very small hotel,”
We’ll creep into our little shell
And we will thank that small hotel
Together!
"There's A Small Hotel" by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart
©1936 by Chappell & Co., Inc. Copyright Renewed.
International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved.